The Marauders
by This-is-my-designx
Summary: Remus Lupin finds himself attracted to one of his fellow Gryffindors. He already counts himself lucky to even have friends due to his condition. Would it be pushing his luck to pursue his new crush?
1. Chapter 1

**1****st**** September 1971**

Remus Lupin sat alone in his compartment of the Hogwarts Express watching the countryside flash past as the train transported him towards the life he'd never have thought possible for himself.

Because of his…condition, Remus had assumed that attending school, especially a boarding school, would be out of the question, but Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, had taken steps to ensure that Remus' condition would not pose a threat to any of the other students. Remus was grateful beyond belief. Those who shared Remus' condition were often ostracised and not given the same opportunities as normal wizarding folk.

Both he and his parents had been both surprised and elated on the morning he received his letter. A future that had seemed almost impossible was now drawing closer. He could not wait.

Of course, making friends would be an issue. Would he be able to hide his condition from those he befriended? Would it be safe to be friends with anyone, given his problem? Would they even want to be friends with him in the unlikely event that they found out what he was?

Remus smiled as the countryside rushed past in a blur of green. He was going to Hogwarts, he was really going.

It was only when the sky outside faded from blue to black and the lamps on the walls lit themselves that Remus thought he ought to change into his brand new Hogwarts robes.

After pulling off his muggle clothes and changing into his robes, he looked at himself in the window, which made a decent mirror, and couldn't help but grin at his reflection. He could hear excited voices in the surrounding compartments as people started to gather their things and exit the train. Their excitement was infectious, it expanded inside Remus like a balloon, he couldn't help it.

He left his compartment after checking his reflection one last time and exited the train onto the platform. Amidst the older students, he could see fellow first years, clumped together in groups with those they'd met on the train or otherwise alone, like he was, looking both nervous and cold in the chilly breeze. He saw that most of the older students were heading down the platform, he made to follow them when he heard a gruff voice calling for the first years.

"Firs' years! Firs' years this way!" The voice said.

Remus turned to find himself facing a giant of a man. He gaped. This man was at least 8ft tall and the majority of his face was covered in tangled, dark hair. He was carrying a flashlight and was gesturing towards the first years.

"Firs' years follow me!" He shouted before turning and walking in the opposite direction of the older students. Remus looked around at the other first years, all of whom seemed as apprehensive as he felt, before following the giant man.

The man led them to the edge of a large, black lake where a cluster of small boats were floating.

"No more than four to a boat!" Cried the man.

Remus found himself crammed into one of the boats with a red-haired girl, a hook-nosed boy with lank, dark hair and a dark-haired girl. The dark-haired girl turned and smiled at him as he settled into the boat. Surprised but pleased, Remus smiled back.

"Forward!" The man cried, causing all of the boats to sail smoothly forward.

All was silent for a few minutes as the boats carved their way through the black water.

"You'll be getting yer firs' look at Hogwarts any minute now!" the man, who had a boat all to himself, shouted.

Sure enough, the rounded a corner and there in front of them stood a magnificent castle. Remus gasped outloud. He wasn't the only one. All around him, his fellow first years were gazing up at the castle in wonder as they drew closer. Remus could hardly take his eyes off it. It was like something out of a children's story. It was beautiful.

The boats came to a standstill on the shore of the lake. Remus clambered out and, along with the other first years, followed the humungous man up a set of stone steps towards the castle doors. He glanced around him at the other children and for the first time in his life, he felt like he belonged. He felt like part of something instead of the outcast his condition had forced him to feel like ever since he was a small boy.

The great, wooden doors that stood atop the stone steps swung open just before they reached them. Inside, Remus could see a sort of entrance chamber. They were lead up another set of stairs, a top of which stood a witch. Her hair had been pulled back into a tight knot at the back of her head and she wore a strict expression.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall."

"Thank you, Hagrid."

The giant man, Hagrid, nodded and walked past the first years into what appeared to be a large hall full of the older students. Remus felt a spasm of nerves as he contemplated what was coming. His parents had told him that he was to be sorted into one of the school houses, would he have to do this in front of everyone?

"Good evening, first years. Welcome to Hogwarts." said Professor McGonagall. Her tone of voice matched her strict expression. "In a few moments you will pass through these doors and be sorted into your houses but, before you do, I would like to say a few words.

"During your time at Hogwarts, your house will be like your family. Triumphs will earn you house points and any rule breaking and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points wins the house cup." She paused. "You will be sorted into one of four houses; Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin." Professor Mcgongall turned, the heavy doors opened and she led them through the hall. Four long tables stood in the hall, each one full of students. Remus glanced up to find that there were hundreds of candles floating in midair and instead of a ceiling, Remus could see the night sky.

"It's not real." whispered a voice from next to him. He looked down to find the dark-haired girl he had shared a boat with. "My mum told me it's just a spell." she said, now gazing up at the ceiling. Remus couldn't really think of any way to reply to this. The girl misinterpreted his silence.

"Oh, sorry. I'm Elladora." She whispered, giving him a friendly smile.

"Remus." he whispered back, his eyes now drawn to the front of the hall where the teachers table stood. A frayed and patched hat lay on top of a stool that had been placed a few feet forwards from the teachers table.

"Is that the-" Remus began before being cut off by Elladora.

"-Sorting Hat? Yeah, I think so."

Everyone, including all the teachers, seemed to be staring at the old Sorting Hat. Remus wondered why, until the brim of the hat opened and it started to sing.

Remus barely listened to the song that issued from the mouth of the Sorting Hat. He was becoming nervous. What if, because of his condition, he wouldn't be eligible for any of the houses? What if none of the houses would take him?

As soon as the mouth of the Sorting Hat closed, everyone started clapping. Remus hastened to copy them.

The hall fell silent again as Professor McGonagall came forwards.

"Now, when I call your name you will come forth, I shall place the Sorting Hat on your head and you will be sorted into your houses." She raised a scroll of parchment, presumably with the names of all the first years written on it, and began the roll call.

"Black, Sirius!"

A boy with longish, curly hair sauntered forwards and sat down on the stool. He didn't look nervous at all. Professor McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on his head.

The Sorting Hat was silent for a few moments before "GRYFFINDOR!"

A table to the left erupted into applause as the Black, Sirius joined them.

"Bones, Amelia!"

A terrified looking blonde girl stepped forward and sat on the stool.

The Sorting Hat was silent a bit longer than it had been with Sirius Black.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Amelia Bones heaved a sigh of relief and hurried over to one of the tables on the right side of the hall.

Remus watched students come and go, waiting nervously for his name to be called. After what seemed like an eternity, Professor McGonagall finally called "Lupin, Remus!"

Remus, helped by an encouraging smile from Elladora, made his way up to the stool. He felt a little light-headed. He sat down and McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on his head.

"Hmmm…" said a voice in his ear, causing him to jump. "A steady mind, loyal. You've got determination. Interesting…"

Remus was sweating now out of pure nerves.

"Mhmm, yes. In that case GRYFFINDOR!"

The last word was shouted for the whole hall to hear. Remus, relieved on just having been placed in a house, stumbled off the stool once the Sorting Hat had been removed from his head and made his way over to the Gryffindor table. He sat next to a red-haired girl that he recognised from the boats. Opposite them sat the boy who had been the first to be sorted, Sirius Black.

Sirius grinned at Remus. "Sirius." he said, holding out his hand.

Remus grinned in return. "Remus." he took Sirius' hand and shook it.

"Macavoy, Elladora!" called Professor McGonagall. Remus turned to see the girl he had been stood next to in the line sitting herself down on the stool. Her pale face was ablaze with both excitement and nerves. The Sorting Hat took longer on her than it had on himself. Maybe it was having difficulty deciding?

After a painfully silent 3 minutes, the Sorting Hat yelled "GRYFFINDOR!"

Elladora bounded over to the Gryffindor table, grinning. She sat down next to Sirius and smiled over at Remus and the red-haired girl next to him.

"I'm Lily." said the girl next to Remus, smiling back at Elladora.

"Elladora." she replied.

After everyone was sorted into their houses and sat down at their tables. It was then that Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, stood up, immediately commanding the attention of everyone in the hall.

"To our new students, welcome to Hogwarts! To our returning students, welcome back! I have a few words to say, but now is not the time! Please, indulge!"

With that, the empty plates that had been set upon the tables immediately filled with food. Numerous gasps of wonder issued from many mouths of the first years as they gazed around at the delicious looking food that had appeared in front of them.

The feast passed in a blur of delicious food and friendly chit-chat. Remus was content with just sitting there and listening to the conversation around him. Elladora was now engaged in a conversation with Lily. Elladora seemed fascinated by the fact that Lily was a muggle-born.

"How does everything work, though? Without magic, I mean?" Elladora asked.

"We have electricity!"

"Elec-what? What is that?"

Lily opened her mouth to reply when Dumbledore stood up again. The chatter in the hall was silenced immediately.

"Now, I have a few start of term notices to announce." Dumbledore said. "First years should note that the Black Forest it out of bounds to all those who do not wish to lose the more crucial parts of their body. Mr Filch has asked me to remind you all to take the time to review the list of banned objects on his office door. Now, as I'm sure that none of you want to be late on your first day back to school, I think that it's time for bed! First years, follow your prefects who will lead you to your house common room. Pip, pip!"

All around him, people were pushing back the benches from their tables and making their way to the entrance hall.

"First years! Follow us!" Remus turned to his left to see two Gryffindor students with Prefect badges pinned to their chests gesturing for the Gryffindor first years to follow them. They led them out of the hall and up a number of staircases through the castle. Remus found it hard to keep up with the other first years because he was too busy staring at the portraits, the moving staircases, the floating candles, it was better than he could have ever imagined.

"Come on, Remus!" shouted Sirius, noticing that Remus had fallen behind slightly. Remus grinned and hurried after his fellow first years. His condition may prevent him from making friends the way other people did, but the fact that he was being given a chance at normality was enough for him.


	2. Chapter 2

**21****st**** December, 1975**

"Moony!"

Remus looked up from his particularly difficult Transfiguration essay to find one of his best friends, Sirius, flinging himself down onto the sofa opposite him.

"There you are! What are you doing holed up in here? It's snowing outside!" Sirius enquired, shaking flecks of snow off his cloak.

"I thought I'd get McGongall's essay out of the way." Remus explained, indicating his essay on the usefulness of the Vanishing spell in regards to the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.

"Oh come on, Remus, you've got plenty of time for that! It's the holidays!"

Remus said nothing but grinned. Sirius never did show the amount enthusiasm for learning that Remus did. Sirius did not pursue the subject as his attention was captured by something much more entertaining than Remus' essay.

"Would you look at him?" Sirius said with a short, bark-like laugh.

"What?"

Sirius nodded over at the corner where their best friend, James, was trying - unsuccessfully - to ask out his long-time crush, Lily Evans.

"You'd think after the 57th failed attempt, he'd have given up, wouldn't you?" Sirius chuckled. It was common knowledge that Lily Evans considered James to be an arrogant toe-rag.

"I think it's sweet!"

Both Remus and Sirius looked up; Elladora Macavoy, a fellow Gryffindor, had sat down next to Sirius.

Remus had met Elladora on their first day of Hogwarts and they had been friends ever since. She was also friends with his group of best friends, Sirius, James and Peter. In fact, she was friends with just about everyone in their year, even some of the Slytherins!

Sirius, who had developed quite a close friendship with Elladora in their 3rd year, laughed.

"Oh come on, Elle. Sweet would be buying her a bunch of flowers or offering to carry her books to class. This is what I would call foolish." he said as James trudged over and dropped down onto the opposite sofa, next to Remus, looking utterly dejected.

"No luck?" Sirius asked, suppressing a grin.

"None at all. I think her exact words were 'I'd rather drink Bubotuber pus.'"

Elladora snorted with laughter and James threw a cushion at her.

"I'm sorry!" she cried, throwing the cushion back at him. "It's just…you'd probably have better luck if you didn't antagonise her best friend!" she said with a smirk.

"I thought you were her best friend?"

"I'm her best girl friend, Severus is her best boy friend."

James scowled. "What he is, is an idiot."

"You see, that's where you're going wrong." Elladora explained. "Think of it like this, if Lily made a point of publicly humiliating Remus," Remus looked up at the mention of his name, "you wouldn't exactly be in a hurry to ask her out, would you?"

"You think a girl would be able to get the better of me?" Remus asked, indignantly.

"Well, you have been looking a little weedy lately." Elladora replied playfully.

Remus laughed but did not say anything else. The cause for his 'weedy' appearance was, of course, the aftermath of the full moon, but Elladora didn't know this.

James seemed to be deep in thought. He glanced over at Lily thoughtfully, obviously mulling over Elladora's words.

Remus shook his head, smirking discreetly at his friends confused expression. Apparently James was torn between his desire for Lily and his hatred of Snape. He returned to his essay, wearily scratching out a misspelled word. Elladora and Sirius were now engaged in a debate over who was the better flier. He felt comfortably content, surrounded by his friends. The next full moon wasn't until mid-way through January, he was free to enjoy himself until then.

Remus was distracted once again from his essay by the arrival of Peter. Short, chubby and watery-eyed, Peter scrambled through the portrait hole, his arm laden with food.

"Been visiting the house-elves again, Wormtail?" James asked, taking an éclair from the pile that Peter had let down on the table.

"I brought enough for everyone!" Peter said, picking up a cream cake.

Admitting defeat, Remus put his down his quill and screwed the top back onto his ink pot. He put his half-finished essay into his bag and helped himself to a particularly delicious looking cake.

"What's the occasion?" asked Sirius.

"No occasion." Peter replied through a mouth full of pumpkin pasty.

The five of them , Remus, Sirius, James, Peter and Elladora, were all partaking in the conversation. It was nothing too heavy-handed. A bit of this and a little of that, mostly teasing James about his many hopeless attempts to woo Lily Evans. Remus found himself grinning for no specific reason apart from the fact that he felt like he belonged. He had grown up an outsider, constantly shunned when people learned about his condition, but here, he had friends. Friends who accepted him. He had expected James, Sirius and Peter to disassociate themselves from him if they ever discovered his secret. He could not have anticipated his reactions in his wildest dreams. They were the best friends anyone could hope for.

"Remus?"

All five of them looked up to find Lily (James sat up straight, blushing furiously, his hand jumping to his hair as if the 'messy' look would convince Lily that he was the one for her) looking down at Remus. Elladora and Sirius exchanged smirks at James' expense.

Remus stood up, he didn't need to ask what Lily wanted; they had prefect duty.

"I'll see you later." he said to his friends before departing the scene with Lily.

As he and Lily walked through the common room to the portrait hole, he heard Sirius roaring with laughter and heard James' defensive reply ("Shut up!").

Remus returned to the common room many hours later. It was late evening and the outside sky was dark, yet snow still fell. He glanced over at the windows, watching the snow mount up on the window ledge.

The common room was almost empty, only a couple of seventh and sixth years remained, feverishly going over class notes, obviously trying to cram in some early revision.

The only other person in the common room was Elladora. She was sat in an arm chair poring over a book. Not quite ready to go to bed, Remus made his way over to her, hoping that his presence would not be unwanted.

"Hey," he said quietly, sitting down in an arm chair opposite her.

Elladora looked up from her book and smiled. "Hey!"

"How come you're not in bed?"

"Oh, my mum sent me an early Christmas present," she held up the book she had been reading sheepishly. It was the Tales of Beedle the Bard.

"Children's stories?" Remus asked, amused.

"Well, yeah. I used to love them when I was younger." she said, blushing slightly. She shoved the book carelessly into her bag, though he noticed that she marked her place very carefully before she did so.

"Where's Lily?" she asked, glancing around the common room.

"She said something about meeting Snape before going to bed."

"Oh."

They were silent for a few moments before Elladora spoke again.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Go on,"

Elladora looked at him for a few moments. She seemed to be deciding how to approach the subject. "You're ill, every month. Just once, every single month." she paused, watching him carefully. Remus felt a spasm of horror. The answer was there in her eyes, she'd put it together, she knew. He stared at her, lost for words. What should he do? Should he admit it? Come up with a cover story? Deny it?

"I don't know what to tell you," he said after a few moments of silence. "I was always a very sickly child, I daresay my immune system isn't up to much."

Elladora didn't look as though she believed him, but instead of pressing the subject and forcing a legitimate answer out of him, she smiled. "Fair enough."

Relieved, Remus smiled at her.

"Anyway, I'm going to bed." she stood up and shouldered her bag. "Goodnight, Remus."

"Night," replied Remus. He watched her depart from the common room and make her way up the stairs that led to the dormitories. He waited until she had disappeared to lean back in his chair and run a hand through his hair. That was close, he thought to himself. He should probably come up with a different excuse next month. A family problem, something like that. Being 'ill' every single month on the full moon was starting to draw more attention than he would have liked.


	3. Chapter 3

**22nd**** December, 1975**

The Christmas holidays were in full swing and the festivity had well and truly set in for those who were staying at Hogwarts for Christmas. Remus was amongst those staying, as were Sirius, Peter and James. Lily Evans, much to James' delight, was also staying. It was obvious that James saw the Christmas holidays as the perfect opportunity to persuade Lily that he was the perfect boy.

Very few Gryffindors were staying at Hogwarts for Christmas. Remus was amongst those that were as well as Sirius, James, Peter, Lily, Mary McDonald and a few various students from each year. Remus didn't mind, it would be cosy. It would be better than returning home, anyway. Christmas at home would be a quiet affair, just him and his parents. They'd ask him how he was getting on at Hogwarts, how his friends were, and then sooner or later, they'd ask him how he was handling his condition. The mention of this only caused tears and arguments. His father blamed himself for his son's infliction due to the fact it had been he who had offended Fenrir Greyback, causing Greyback to retaliate by infecting Remus with the werewolf curse. Christmas was never a happy occasion at the Lupin household.

After a particularly vicious snow ball fight that lasted the duration of the morning Remus, James and Sirius all headed back through the castle to the Gryffindor common room. Mercifully, the fire was roaring in the fireplace so the common room was pleasantly warm compared to the bitter cold outside.

They passed Lily and Mary bidding goodbye to Elladora who was heading home for Christmas. Upon catching sight of them, James' hand immediately went to his hair, ruffling it up for Lily's benefit and Sirius left James and Remus to find seats so that he could say his own goodbyes to Elladora.

"Do you think he fancies her?" said James, watching Sirius and Elladora, as they sat down in front of the fire.

"What? Who?" asked Remus, frowning.

"Sirius. Do you think he fancies Elladora?"

"No, they're just friends." Remus frowned. "Why do you care?"

James blushed. "Oh. No reason, I just thought that if he and Elladora went out, he could ask her to put in a good word for me with Lily."

Remus smirked. "Why don't you ask Elladora to do that yourself? You two are friends too."

"Not to the extent that her and Sirius are, though."

Remus shook his head. There was no reasoning with James when it came to Lily.

"Where's Peter?" Remus asked.

"Pigging out in the kitchens, I would assume." replied James, his eyes still on the red-haired beauty that was Lily Evans.

Sirius rejoined them after a few minutes and sat down on the sofa next to Remus. A couple of third years eyed him appreciatively as he sat before fire looking, as usual, effortlessly good looking. It was something that neither James, Remus nor Peter could have achieved without spending a considerable amount of time on their appearance. Sirius, however, didn't seem to notice his admirers.

"Guess who Marlene McKinnon was found snogging behind the tapestry down on the third floor?" Sirius said, looking around at his friends with a bitter smirk; it wasn't exactly a secret that Sirius' latest conquest was Marlene and the fact that she had been found snogging someone else only proved that Sirius' charm was having no effect on her whatsoever as of yet.

"Who?" asked James.

"Caradoc Dearborn!"

"Caradoc Dearborn?" James repeated, immediately dissolving into peals of laughter.

Caradoc Dearborn, though he was a perfectly nice person, he was known for his shoddy spell work and constant battle with acne whereas Marlene McKinnon was a girl many boys desired.

"Elle just told me, apparently Marlene is insisting that he lured her there under false pretences."

James snorted with laughter. "More like she's embarrassed she got caught."

"My thoughts exactly."

"So, uhm…" James' hand went casually to his hair again, messing it up. "How come Evans is staying for the holidays?" James asked, trying - and failing - to sound nonchalant.

"Why don't you ask her yourself, Prongs? I'm sure she won't bite as long as you behave yourself."

"Mayb-maybe I will." said James.

Sirius and Remus said nothing but smirked. It was common knowledge that Lily was no fan of James' and he did nothing to help this; his attempts to impress her only seemed to lessen her opinion of him.

James got up and swaggered over to where Lily was said with Mary.

"Alright, Evans?" he said in a voice that was considerably deeper than how he usually spoke.

Lily narrowed her eyes. "What do you want, Potter?"

"Just came to see how you were." he said, leaning against the wall.

"Well, I'm fine. Thanks for asking." Lily replied curtly.

"Well, that's great. And I'm, well, I'm fine too. So, we're both fine and, that's great. Brilliant." James seemed to sense defeat when Lily did nothing but glare at him. He retreated hastily back to their spot by the fire.

"Well, that went well." said Sirius, smirking.

"Shut up." snapped James.

"Oh, come on, Padfoot. It wasn't _that_ bad. I mean, remember the time he managed to spill his pumpkin juice all over her and then fall over in his haste to help her clear it up?"

James glared at the pair of them as Sirius started to laugh.

"You can laugh, though I seem to remember a time that you weren't so smooth yourself, Padfoot." said James scathingly. "Why, only just last week did you attempt to ask out Marlene and get shot down before you'd even got the words out of your mouth." said James, wiping the smirk off Sirius' face.

Remus rolled his eyes. He knew better than to think that their jibes were serious. It was all good hearted banter of which Remus preferred to listen to rather than participate in.

"Where's Peter?" asked Sirius, obviously keen to draw the conversation away from his failed attempt at asking out Marlene - Remus wasn't sure why he was embarrassed, in his opinion, Sirius had handled the situation rather well; "I wasn't coming to ask you out, actually, McKinnon." he had said, raising an eyebrow nonchalantly. "I was actually coming to ask out you," he'd turned to her friend, Emmeline Diggory, who blushed and started to giggle. "Me?" Sirius nodded. "You wanna go out with me?" he winked and Emmeline nodded. Despite the fact he hadn't got the girl he wanted - yet - he'd still got a snog out of it.

"He went to the library to do Binns' essay on the Goblin Rebellions."

"That was due last week." Remus said, frowning.

"Yeah, Peter 'forgot' to do it. I think he expected Binns to let him off." James stretched out and yawned.

It was still quite early in the afternoon but the common room was all but deserted due to the fact that the majority of students had returned home for Christmas. Remus glanced around the common room and got that comfortable, homely feeling that he associated with Hogwarts. He felt a small smile playing on his lips, he felt more at home at Hogwarts than he did anywhere else. He had the best friends anyone could ask for and the type of protection (for him and against him when he turned) that couldn't be acquired anywhere else.

"I wish it was the full moon." Sirius said lightly.

That was another thing, after finding out the true nature of his 'illness' Sirius, James and Peter had not abandoned him, as he had expected, but stood by him more firmly than ever before. Being the best friends that they were, they had put themselves at risk in order to be able to accompany Remus on the full moon when he turned into a wolf and worked tirelessly to become Animagi so that they could both be with him when he was in wolf form and make sure he didn't harm anyone. Remus was more grateful than they could ever imagine. He knew, without a doubt, that he had the best friends in the world.

Once a month, he would go through the excruciatingly painful transformation of becoming a werewolf and be accompanied by a stag, a dog and a rat. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. When he was with them, he felt like he could do anything.


	4. Chapter 4

**January 17th****, 1976**

The full moon reached its apex and Remus felt his whole body slackening as the monster inside of him that lay dormant every other night of the month ripped its way forth, taking control.

Through the grimy windows of the Shrieking Shack which had, as of his first transformation at Hogwarts, become his hideout, he could see the streets of Hogsmeade. A small part of his mind noted that, because of the agonised screams that were certain to come, the legend that was attached the Shrieking Shack would be reinforced and the residents of Hogsmeade would spend the night consumed with fear, hoping against hope that the particularly violent ghosts that inhabited the Shack wouldn't venture any further into their town.

Remus let out a tortured wail as his body began the painful transition into a wolf.

As his nose turned into a snout and his feet into paws, he let out an animalistic snarl, fighting back the scream that threatened to break through his clenched teeth. The small part of control that was left in his mind saw the stag, the dog and the rat enter the room before he completed the transformation and the monster took control of his thoughts.

"He looks like hell, doesn't he?"

"He just went through hell, Wormtail. I'd be concerned if he didn't."

"It'll be getting light soon, we need to get him back to the castle."

It was only when Remus became aware of the rough, wooden floor beneath him that he realised that he wasn't dreaming. He opened his eyes and pushed himself up into a sitting position, groaning as every joint in his body creaked in protest.

"Good morning, beautiful." said Sirius, grinning at him from his spot on the window sill. James was sat next to him and Peter was sat on the floor.

"Sleep well?"

Remus grabbed the clothes that had been lain down on the floor for him and started to dress himself.

"Wonderfully." he said sarcastically, drawing in his breath sharply as he went to pull the shirt over his head, finding that he'd somehow managed to acquire a shallow but painful cut on his underarm along with a budding bruise on his ribcage.

"Sorry about that," said James, indicating the cut on his arm. "Caught you with my antlers."

"Don't worry about it." said Remus, pulling on the jeans. Once he was dressed, he stood up. His body felt thoroughly battered and bruised, which was nothing new. All he wanted to do was get back to Gryffindor tower and sleep away the day. Thankfully, it was a Saturday, so there were no lessons that needed to be attended. The idea of his soft, warm bed waiting for him was enough to get him through the painful walk back to the dormitory.

When Remus awoke, the sky outside was in-between light and dark blue. He guessed it was late afternoon/early evening. He sat up and stretched, wincing slightly as he felt twinges of pain all over his body. He ached, like he always did after the full moon, but he felt better than he had upon arriving back at the Gryffindor common room that morning.

He reached for some clean clothes and put them on, running a hair through his tousled hair as he did. He yawned, still tired, and left the dormitory.

He found Peter in the common room, scratching feverishly on a sheet of parchment.

"Where's James and Sirius?" Remus asked, sitting down opposite him, stifling a yawn.

"Quidditch practice." replied Peter without taking his eyes off the essay.

"What time is it?"

Peter looked at his watch. "Almost half 5."

Remus stood up. "I'm going to go and have some dinner."

Peter nodded but didn't look up and Remus exited the common room. He only realised now how hungry he was as he followed the smell of food that was coming from the great hall.

He ate alone in silence, too tired to do anything but appreciate the food that he was eating. It tasted better than ever, as it always did after a long night. Once he had finished, he headed back up to the common room where he found James, Sirius, Peter, Elladora, Alice, Marlene and Lily all sat together engaged in what looked like a friendly conversation. Even Lily and Marlene looked happy enough, despite the fact that both James and Sirius were there.

"And then Elle scored a fantastic goal. We are going to _flatter _Slytherin next week!" Remus heard Sirius exclaim as he drew closer. He assumed, from the enthusiasm of their conversation, that Quidditch practice has gone well.

"Moony!" cried James when he caught sight of Remus making his way towards them.

Remus smiled and sat down next to Lily.

"Sirius told us you were feeling ill." Lily said, looking a little worried.

"I was." said Remus. "I'm fine now, though."

Lily smiled and turned back to the conversation where Elladora and James were now comparing Quidditch manoeuvres.

"I say we use the Hawkshead Attacking Formation. That's easily the best one." said Elladora,

"No way. Porskoff Ploy, every time. They don't expect it! With the Hawkshead, they know what we're doing!"

Whilst everyone was listening to Elladora and James battle it out, laughing every time one of them made an amusing remark, Remus was watching Elladora, but not in the same way the others were. He'd known her since his first day at Hogwarts, but it was like he was seeing her for the first time. Her long, dark hair was tousled and windswept, having just come from Quidditch practice, her skin was glowing in the firelight and whenever she laughed her face lit up. She was…beautiful. Of course, he'd always known she was pretty, but he'd never thought of her any other way than as a friend, until now.

Remus almost started when he realised what he was thinking. Did he…did he have a _crush_? Surely not? He'd known Elladora for five years, why would he suddenly start thinking about in her _that_ way now?

They were now teasing Alice about her crush on Frank Longbottom, but Remus wasn't listening. He was too busy trying to decide whether or not he was starting to think of Elladora as more than a friend.

_No, of course not. She's just a friend! _

A funny, outgoing, popular, pretty, perfect friend.

_No! She's just a friend. Just a friend. That's it. Besides, it would be wrong to get involved with a girl that way given the whole werewolf situation…_

"What about you, Remus?"

Remus was brought out of his internal argument by the mention of his name. He felt a pleasurable twinge in his stomach when he saw who was talking to him.

"Is there anyone you like?" Elladora said with a smirk. Everyone was looking at him now. Surely…they couldn't read his mind? Was it just coincidence that she should ask right after he had been arguing with himself in his head over whether or not he fancied her?

Thankfully, he was saved the trouble of answering by the arrival of Frank Longbottom. Alice blushed, Lily grinned, Marlene giggled, Elladora smirked.

"Oh hey, Frank!" she said, smirking at Alice meaningfully, who blushed a deeper shade of pink.

James, Sirius and Peter were all laughing so Remus, to fit it, laughed too. Sirius winked at Alice and James wiggled his eyebrows at her, causing her to glare at them in an attempt to stop making her crush on Frank obvious.

Frank, however, seemed oblivious to this, and went on to ask James about some piece of homework.

Remus relaxed on the sofa, grinning. It was times like this when he cherished having friends and people that he cared about. He glanced at Elladora who was mouthing something at Alice. She was so beautiful, he thought to himself. But no, he couldn't let himself feel that way! He was a werewolf! Werewolves did not have the luxury of being able to have girlfriends. No, he was lucky enough to have friends, he wasn't going to push his luck. He didn't want to put anyone in danger, and having a girlfriend would do exactly that.


	5. Chapter 5

**24****th**** January, 1976**

That week the tension between houses, namely Gryffindor and Slytherin, escalated. Both Gryffindor and Slytherin were incredibly competitive when it came to the Quidditch cup, and after a tragic loss to Slytherin the previous year the Gryffindors were more determined than ever to get their own back.

Thankfully, because of the Gryffindor/Slytherin match talk that dominated most conversations coupled with the work load that the teachers were piling upon them in preparation for the OWLs, Remus didn't have much time to dwell on his thoughts. More specifically, he didn't have time to dwell on the fact that he was fast developing a crush on his fellow Gryffindor, Elladora Macavoy. Though he had told himself expressively that having a girlfriend…no, not even that, having a crush on someone was off limits! The last thing he wanted was the added pressure of keeping his condition secret from someone else. It was hard enough doing it at the present moment, but if he were to strike up a relationship with someone, which would mean growing closer to them, hiding his true nature would become much more difficult. He knew that from the time he had spent trying to hide it from James, Sirius and Peter. Thankfully, they had been accepting of him. He wasn't sure that anyone else would. Being a werewolf was not a desirable infliction. When people discovered that someone was a werewolf, they stopped seeing them as a person and started seeing them as an animal. People didn't want to associate with werewolves, it was dangerous.

Having said that, Remus had found himself finding any excuse he could to talk to Elladora. Thankfully, Elladora was rather close friends with Sirius which meant she frequently joined them when they were spending time in the common room or came over to talk when they were in class or in the great hall. Both James and Sirius benefited from this friendship, because wherever Elladora went, so did Lily and Marlene. Most of the time, anyway, and it was common knowledge that James nursed a chronic soft spot for Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon had become Sirius' most recent object of desire.

The morning of the match arrived in a burst of sunlight that was quite uncharacteristic to the month of January. It was bright but cold. Remus didn't envy those that would be out on broomsticks.

Remus made his way down to the great hall with James, Sirius and Peter, all of whom were beside them selves with excitement. James and Sirius because they would be playing and nothing got them more riled up than a good Quidditch match, and Peter, like the majority of those who would be watching, was caught up in the pre-match excitement. Although Remus wasn't a big fan of sports, he was looking forward to the match and he sincerely hoped that Gryffindor would win. He'd had more than enough first hand experience of James and Sirius' bad moods if they lost a match.

"Gryffindor in possesion of the quaffle! Black passes to Potter who reverse passes to Macavoy who passed back to Black who is intercepted by Harris of Slytherin. Harris passes to Avery who passes it back to Harris. He's shoots and he misses! Nice save there by the Gryffindor keeper, Cadwallader."

Remus was sat in the Gryffindor stands next to Peter. Both of them were cheering and whooping along with the rest of the Gryffindors. They were winning 60 points to 10. Slytherin were putting up a good fight but Gryffindor, who had been training solidly since their last match, were battling their utmost hardest and, as a result, were flattening Slytherin.

"Gryffindor in possession of the quaffle as Black passes to Potter who passes to Macavoy. Macavoy shoots. AND SHE SCORES! 10 POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR! Bad luck, Slytherin!"

There was an almightly cheer from the Gryffindor stands, completely drowning the groans from Slytherin.

"Slytherin beater, Jenkins hit's a bludger towards Black. Nice dodge there, Black! Gryffindor beater, Hopkins, takes a swing at the bludg-oh! What's this? The Gryffindor seeker has spotted the snitch! Slytherin seeker, Roberts, is close behind. it's going to be a close one, people!"

The crowd waited with bated breath as both seekers hurtled towards the ground, chasing the small, golden snitch. It was all over in a second when the Gryffindor seeker, Adrian Redfern, grabbed hold of the snitch and pulled out the dive, his fist held high.

"GRYFFINDOR WINS! Final score 220-10"

The Gryffindors just about went wild. They weren't alone; the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuff's joined in, all of them glad to have witnessed Slytherin's defeat.

The party that ensued in the common room as a result of their spectacular win was excellent. There was mounds of food that had been nicked from the kitchens and countless bottles of butterbeer. Banners had been stuck up around the room and there was music playing from a wireless somewhere which was largely drowned out by the chatter within the room.

The Gryffindor Quidditch team were heroes that night! They were well on their way to leading Gryffindor to the Quidditch cup, something that hadn't occurred for years. This did nothing to help Remus' impossible crush on the only girl on the team. Having watched her during the match and seeing her now, still in her Quidditch robes, her wind still windswept and her skin flushed from a combination of joy at winning the game and pleasure at the attention she was receiving, his stupid, sudden, disgusting feelings for his friend had only intensified. So he did what he always did when he had a problem, he shut it away and refused to deal with it. He didn't want to deal with it! He'd never had feelings like these before, they were foreign and strange and he had no idea how to deal with them! The only downside about this was that it made him downright miserable, despite the fact he was in the midst of a celebration. In an attempt to cheer himself up, he made his way over to a pile of chocolate frogs and found himself next to Lily Evans.

"Hey, Remus!" said Lily when she looked up and found him stood just behind her, trying to make his way to the chocolate.

"Oh, hey Lily." he said with a small smile.

Lily looked at him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm fine." said Remus, trying to broaden his smile. Damn girls and their perception.

"Remus, you can tell me, you know?"

He sighed. What would be the harm in telling her? Maybe she could help.

"Ok, hypothetically say if I liked a girl. A girl who was popular, loud, funny, intelligent and an incredible Quidditch player, how would I go about…dealing with that?"

Lily smiled. "If you want someone to like you, Remus, just be yourself. You can't do anymore than that!"

Remus opened his mouth to protest, he didn't want her to like him! That could be disastrous! He wanted to be able to get rid of the feelings, but before he could say anything, James came over. Sensing that his friend was probably taking advantage of the celebratory atmosphere to have another go at asking Lily out, he tactfully removed himself from the vicinity.

He was skulking through the room, wondering if it was too early to go to bed when he spotted Sirius, another one who had taken advantage of the celebratory atmosphere, who was crammed into an armchair with none other than Marlene McKinnon. Apparently Marlene had finally given into Sirius' numerous advances if the way she was snogging him was anything to go by.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: To prevent any confusion when the girls are writing notes, key = Alice, **Marlene, _Lily_, _**Elladora**_.

* * *

><p><strong>26th January, 1976<strong>

Elladora took her usual place in History of Magic besides Lily and Alice, with Marlene on the other side of Lily. James, who was sat in front of them, kept glancing back hopefully at Lily, who didn't seem to notice. The 4th time that James glanced back at them, Elladora caught his eye and smirked. James blushed and turned back to face the front. Everyone knew that, despite the fact _everyone _knew that James fancied Lily, he didn't like to be caught in the act of trying to subtly get her attention. Sirius and Remus took their places either side of James and Peter, who sauntered in right before the lesson started, sat down beside Remus.

Professor Binns floated in through the blackboard at 5 past 9 and instantaneously started droning on about Troll rights. It didn't take long for the whole class to sink into a stupor of boredom. In front of them, James, Sirius and Remus started a game of hangman whilst Peter set his head down on the desk and had a nap.

Lily took out a sheet of parchment and started scribbling on it. She pushed it towards Marlene who grinned and started writing back to whatever Lily had written before pushing it back towards Lily. Alice grabbed the sheet of parchment and started scribbling her own message and Elladora was able to read what was written on the parchment whilst Alice wrote.

_Tell us everything, Mar. _

Tell you what?

**Oh, you know perfectly well what! **Wrote Alice. **We want to know exactly how Black finally charmed you into snogging him.**

Elladora who, until now, had had no idea that Marlene had apparently snogged Sirius snatched the parchment away from Alice. She stared over at Marlene with a disbelieving expression before scribbing her own message.

_**How did I not know this? When did this happen? And how? I thought you hated Sirius, Mar?**_

I thought you knew, Elle! Everyone else does!

Almost on cue, Sirius turned around and winked at Marlene, who glared at him.

Ok, so last night after the Quidditch match, it was crazy in the common room, as you all know since you were there, but Sirius came over and, Merlin, he looked good in his gear, and he flirted a bit, as usual, and I thought, why not? I mean, yeah he's a moron but he's incredibly good looking and hey, I guess I just got caught up in the post-match euphoria. Oh, and if any of you ever tell him this, I'll kill you.

_As long as you don't expect me to go out with Potter, now so we can double up and go on dates, I'm happy for you._

We're not going out, Lil! It was just a snog!

**Or 10.**

Alice!

**Sorry, sorry. I just think it's hilarious. I mean, all this time you've been turning him down and insisting that you think he's an arrogant so and so and then we find you curled up in an armchair snogging his face off!**

Shut up, Alice.

**Sorry.**

_I think it's great, Mar. Be nice, Alice! What do you think, Elle?_

_**I think it's great. Seriously, Marlene, I know Sirius seems like an idiot most of the time, but he really is nice! I mean, apart from you guys he's my best friend! If he hurts you though, Mar, I'll jinx him into next week!**_

Marlene grinned at Elladora and Elladora smiled back. She was glad that Marlene had finally succumbed to Sirius. She and she alone knew how much Sirius liked Marlene.

_Anyway, moving swiftly on, what's going on with you and Remus, Elle?_

**Oh yeah! I forgot about that! Tell us everything.**

Elladora looked up at her friends who were all grinning at her and nodding, prompting her to reply.

_**Erm, what?**_

_You and Remus! He fancies you, remember?_

_**Er, does he?**_

Lily stared at Marlene and Alice in disbelief and then back at Elladora.

_Yes! I told you after the match!_

_**No…you didn't…**_

_Yes, I did! Right after Potter attempted to ask me out, again, and I came over to you and you were getting a butterbeer and I said "Potter just asked me out again!" and then you laughed an_

_**And then you spotted Sirius and Marlene and smacked my arm so hard I spilt my butterbeer. **_

Lily stared at her open mouthed.

_Oh, that's right! Shoot! _

**Honestly, Lily, you managed to tell me and Marlene but you ****forgot ****to tell the one person whose life it actually affects!**

_**So you and Mar knew, too?**_

**Yeah.**

_**No one tells me anything around here! First Mar and Sirius and now this? Tell me **_**exactly **_**what happened. **_

_Ok, so I was helping myself to some Chocolate Frogs and Remus came over and he looked kind of miserable so I asked him what was up, and he said nothing, but I was like 'Remus, you can tell me, you know?' and he sort of sighed and said 'Ok, hypothetically say if I liked a girl. A girl who was popular, loud, funny, intelligent and an incredible Quidditch player, how would I go about getting…dealing with that?' and I was like 'If you want someone to like you, Remus, just be yourself. You can't do anymore than that!' and then he was going to say something but then James came over to ask me out._

_**Ok, so he didn't actually say that he fancied me?**_

_No not specifically, but it's obvious!_

_**Is it?**_

**Yes!**

Yes!

_Yes!_

_**?**_

**Elle, you're the only girl in our year who could fit into all those categories!**

_**Ok, I'm not popular or intelligent or funny. Yes I'm loud, but so are you, Alice! He could have been talking about you! Or you, Mar! Or Lily!**_

_Elle, you're the only girl on the Quidditch team._

_**Oh.**_

_So, are you going to talk to him?_

_**No! How would I start that conversation? 'Hey, Remus. How are you? Good, me too. Say, do you fancy me?'**_

Do you like him?

_**As a friend, yeah. **_

What about as more than a friend?

…_**I don't know, I've never thought about it before! **_

"Murphy!"

Having been addressed like this for the five years in which Professor Binns had taught her, Elladora knew without a doubt that he was referring to her.

"Yes, Professor?" she said innocently, stuffing the sheet of parchment onto her lap.

"Perhaps you can tell us what Pierre Bonaccord's intentions were, regarding Trolls, given the fact that the rest of the class seem as attentive as flobberworms this morning."

Elladora smiled. She knew that Binns had been expecting her to reply with 'I'm afraid not, Professor' so that he would finally have an excuse to tell her off. He'd held a grudge against her ever since she'd corrected him during her second year.

"Bonaccord wanted to ban troll-hunting and grant them rights. He even went as far as to suggest that they be given full 'being' status."

Binns looked thoroughly disgruntled. "That is correct." he muttered before returning to his usual drone. She caught Remus' eye who, along with most of the class, had been watching whilst Binns interrogated her. She smiled at him and he, very uncharacteristically, blushed, smiled shyly and hurriedly looked away.

When she was sure that Binns was so engrossed in his lecture that he would not notice, she pulled the parchment off her lap and put it back onto the table. Before she could write, Alice snatched it off her.

**See! Did you see that? DID YOU SEE THAT?**

_**Calm down!**_

**He ****smiled ****at her! And not just that, he blushed! He has it baaad.**

_**Unless you would like to have to crawl to our next class after I hit you with the jelly-legs jinx, I suggest you stop.**_

**Remus and Elle sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G**

_**ALICE!**_

**Ok, ok! I'm done!**

_She's right though, Elle. He obviously really likes you. You should at least consider it! I mean, out of the four of them, I think Remus is the nicest - no offence, Mar - _

None taken.

_I could talk to him, if you like? I have prefect duties with him tonight?_

_**I don't know, I mean, I guess you could talk to him, just to find out whether he definitely does fancy me.**_

What will you do then?

_**I don't know. Any ideas?**_

**Remus loves Elle **

_**I'm warning you.**_

**Elle loves Remus **

Elladora glared at Alice who grinned. Irritated, not because Alice was saying these things but because they were turning out to be true, Elladora pulled a fresh sheet of parchment out of her bag and started writing on it. Alice tried to peek over her shoulder but Elladora covered it with her arm.

She smirked at Alice, before showing her what she had written.

_**Hey, Frank.**_

_**I don't know if you know but Alice - you know Alice, right? Dark hair, blue eyes, incredibly annoying - has an enormous crush on you. Honestly, she's always talking about you and how good looking and funny you are. It would be really cool if you asked her out on a date, I know she'd say yes!**_

Alice's eyes widened and she snatched the parchment from Elladora and crumpled it up, huffing in annoyance. She grabbed the other piece of parchment back and wrote another message.

**Ok, I get it. Sorry.**

Elladora glanced at her friend and suddenly felt a little guilty for snapping. Alice may be a little annoying at times but she was her friend and she loved her.

_**I'm just kidding, Al. I wouldn't do that. I love you, really. **_

**You better had.**

_**Ok so, Marlene snogged Sirius, Remus may or may not have a crush on me, Alice is still in love with Frank and James Potter is still inexplicably in love with Lily, despite her open hatred of him-**_

_I don't hate him! I just think he's an arrogant toe-rag! He's always messing around and doing stupid things for attention. He mean to Sev, too._

_**Why do you even talk to Snape though, Lily? I get that he's your friend and everything and that would be ok but he's downright nasty, Lily! He's up to his eyes in the Dark Arts! Have you not seen the people he hangs around with? **_

_You don't know him! He's not like them!_

Whatever you say, Lils.

**What do we have next?**

Charms.

Just as Lily was about to reply, the bell signalling the end of the lesson went. Everyone pushed back their chairs immediately in their haste to get out of the classroom that seemed to ooze pure boredom.

The four of them shouldered their bags and started to make their way out of the classroom.

"Hey, McKinnon!"

All four of them turned around to find Sirius looking over at Marlene. Lily, Alice and Elladora all smirked and Marlene, ignoring them, went over to Sirius, keeping her expression cool.

James stared wistfully after Lily and Remus, unseen by everyone but Elladora, glanced over at her (Elladora) with a strangely hopeful expression. Elladora smiled at him and followed Lily and Alice out of the room. She didn't tell Alice and Lily, she didn't want anymore teasing from Alice.


End file.
